Rebekah quickened her steps to keep up with Peter, who took off at a trot.
Above all, Samuel’s voice rode the wind. “My daughter, is she there?”
Her words tore from her throat in a scream as Joseph waved his hat high above them. “I’m here, Pa!”
Samuel’s new draft horses marched easily through the snow. They even seemed to enjoy it, swishing their tails and stepping lively.
Thank you, God.
“Thank God, they’re alive!” Lucas Graber’s voice bounced along the snow. “Come, get in the buggy!”
The snow made the buggy ride rough, but the draft horses didn’t seem to mind.
“The storm came out of nowhere while I was doing laundry, Pa.” Rebekah leaned against her Pa. “The clothes are still there.” An apologetic note hung on her words. “Somewhere.”
“Clothes are replaceable, Rebekah. You aren’t.” Holding her tightly beneath his arm, he glanced at Joseph. “Are you to thank for saving my little girl?”
Lucas snapped the reins. “Always in the right place at the right time, aren’t you, son?”
Joseph did a half smile. “Well, in part. Peter here helped, too.”
Samuel nodded at Peter.
“Well,” he whispered to Rebekah. “Your ma is worried something horrible. Everyone’s at the house. We’ve been looking for you since the snow stopped.”
Snuggling deep against her pa, she allowed herself to doze the rest of the ride home.
Chapter Thirteen
Indeed, every family in Gasthof Village was at the Stolls. The women circled in the sitting room, Bibles open, as the Yoder pup bounced from person to person.
Tears streamed from Elnora’s eyes as she rushed to greet them. “My baby!” She wrapped Rebekah in a tight embrace. “Thank God!”
“It was God, Ma. Everything about this has been by His hand.” She gestured to Joseph and Peter as they climbed the steps in unison. “He made sure they were there. We all needed each other to survive.”
Elnora waved her arm to include all of them. “Come in, all of you, and warm yourselves by the fire.” Baby Beanie squeaked from his cradle. “We were about to have a church service. Her broad face beamed. “Peter, won’t you join us?”
“Thank you kindly, ma’am. That’s a mighty kind offer, considering all I’ve put you folks through. My apologies.” He tipped his hat to Elnora. “But I’d best be goin’.”
Rebekah’s heart sank. The moment had been so perfect, it hadn’t even occurred to her that he would leave. She’d assumed he’d stay, though she hadn’t really given the matter much thought aside from her rapid assumption.
Peter extended his hand to Joseph, who accepted it and shook with three brisk shakes. “Many thanks for saving my fingers. Surely, they wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you making me stick them in that awful water.” He grinned and twitched his nose. “And my smeller, too.”
Dropping his voice low, he continued. “No one’s ever done anything so kind. I wasn’t expecting that kindness, especially after I was so horrible to you.”
“God commands us to love and forgive each other, Peter. Like He loves and forgives us.”
Peter looked genuinely puzzled. “That must have been what they said when they were speakin’ Latin. Don’t recall that.”
Rebekah smiled. “It says so right in the Lord’s Prayer. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Her brother broke from his handshake with Joseph. “Mr. Stoll, if I could collect my wagon, I’ll be on my way.” He jammed his hat on his head with a nod to Rebekah. “Goodbye Hannah-Rebekah Stoll.” A grin broke his stoic face into an array of happy creases.
Remembering his duster, which was still around her shoulders, she followed him. “Wait, Peter!” She unwound the coat and held it out to him. “Thank you for finding me.”
He brushed the top of her covering with a light kiss. “Thank you for being you.”
He slipped his arms in the duster and descended the stairs without looking back.
***
In the warmth of her childhood home, surrounded by the people she loved, Rebekah searched her heart to the backdrop of Mr. Graber reading from the book of Ecclesiastes, for the reason her smile seemed forced.
Joseph sat closer than usual on her father’s hand-hewn loveseat. Normally, that would be cause for her heart to soar and her smile to stay plastered across her lips for days. As she glanced from face to familiar face, a rogue tear escaped and slid dramatically down her cheek.
Joseph bumped her with his elbow. “Are you ill?”
She bit her lip to keep the flood of sudden emotion at bay and nodded. She slammed her eyes shut in a desperate attempt to keep the wall of tears from spilling over. “I miss my brother.”
A series of sharp knocks on the front door brought Mr. Graber’s sermon to a halt. “A day of surprises.”
Lucas opened the door.
Tears cascaded down Rebekah’s cheeks in a shimmering veil. She stood slowly.
There, with a tear-streaked face and the tip of his nose red as a holly berry, stood Peter.
“I couldn’t leave.” His tears began afresh. “I don’t have a soul in the world. Nobody except you.” His eyes locked with hers.
